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February 11, 2016 Special Dispatch No. 6301

Former Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki Attacks 'Counterrevolution' Forces: Egypt's Sisi And The UAE

February 11, 2016
Special Dispatch No. 6301

In a number of recent statements, the former president of Tunisia, Moncef Marzouki, has gone on the attack against agents of counterrevolution in the Arab world, as he describes them. Marzouki has singled out the United Arab Emirates as financiers of counterrevolutionary regimes - an attack that drew stinging responses from the UAE Foreign Minister as well as that country's press - and he likewise condemns Egypt's president 'Abd Al-Fattah Al-Sisi as a tyrant. Although Marzouki is not himself an Islamist, he views the Islamist movements as legitimate actors in the Arab revolutions and as allies against the old regimes. As president of Tunisia he cooperated closely with that country's Islamist movement Al-Nahda - though their relationship has recently soured - and he regularly champions the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, siding pointedly with the man Sisi deposed, former Egyptian president Muhammad Mursi.

Prior to the Arab Spring Marzouki had been a prominent oppositionist and human rights activist, before becoming Tunisia's first post-revolution president in the years 2011-2014. He is closely identified with the revolutionary fervor of the Arab Spring, and is currently the founder and president of the Arab Committee For Democratic Revolutions.

The following are excerpts from Marzouki's statements on Sisi and the UAE, and from reactions to them:

 

 

 
Moncef Marzouki (image: Almesryoon.com, January 23, 2016)

Marzouki: The Tyrant Sisi Has Laid Egypt To Waste

In the course of a speech given in advance of the fifth anniversary of Egypt's January 25, 2011 revolution, Egyptian President 'Abd Al-Fattah Al-Sisi addressed a few words to the Tunisian people, against the backdrop of recent violent protests in Tunisia. Speaking at the Egyptian police academy in honor of Egypt's National Police Day - which happens to also fall on January 25 - Sisi said to the Tunisian people: "I do not want to interfere in your internal affairs, but economic conditions are difficult in the entire world. Preserve your country, and do not lay it to waste."[1] It should be noted that in 2011 the Arab Spring had spread from Tunisia to Egypt, and with the anniversary of January 25 approaching Sisi may have been concerned at the potential impact of the unrest in Tunisia on the situation in Egypt.

Whatever Sisi's reasons for addressing the Tunisian people may have been, former Tunisian president Moncef Marzouki, now in the opposition, was quick to post a stinging response to Sisi on his Facebook page. As stated, Marzouki, while not himself an Islamist, sides with the deposed Muslim Brotherhood-dominated government of former president Muhammad Mursi, and he took advantage of the opportunity to encourage Egyptians to take to the streets on January 25 against the "tyrant" Sisi and his regime:

"Sisi advises us Tunisians to preserve our country! This man advises us to preserve our country, when it is he who laid waste to his!

"I, in turn, would like to offer advice to the Egyptians. The preservation of Egypt is something that not only the great Egyptian people needs. The Arab world, the Arab spring, the Palestinian cause, our people in Gaza under the siege of the dictator, and the [entire] world - we all are in need of an Egypt that is free of corruption and tyranny, because it was and will again be the greatest armature of the [Arab] nation at this point in our history. Everyone is now insolently attacking [the Arab nation] due to the absence of this armature.

"Take care, for Egypt's sake. Do not let yourselves be dragged into the box of violence that the tyrant [Sisi] and his minions want to drag you into, not tomorrow, on the fifth anniversary of your grand revolution, and not any other time. The tyrant is repeating an idiotic scenario, and his failure is certain. This guy [Sisi] obviously does not know history, otherwise he would not be committing all this folly. For this reason you will be victorious...

"Honor and eternal [glory] to your martyrs, and to the martyrs of the Arab Spring. Freedom for all the prisoners - and among them, my dear brother Muhammad Mursi. Love and appreciation for all the heroes of the peaceful revolution, the grand January 25 revolution."[2]   

The UAE Is "Financing Conspiratorial Plots Against Our Peoples' Liberation"

The spat with Egypt's Sisi was not Marzouki's sole one in recent days. In a January 22, 2016 interview with the satellite news channel France 24, Marzouki accused the United Arab Emirates (UAE) of conspiring against the Arab Spring and accused it of playing a part in the deteriorating situation in Tunisia. Specifically, he stated that the UAE was an enemy of the Arab revolutions and a financier of 'coups' against them.[3] (The UAE has provided billions of dollars of economic support to Egypt since Mursi was deposed in July 2013, in addition to its political support for the new regime.)[4]

Marzouki repeated these accusations in a statement issued by the Arab Committee for Democratic Revolutions, an organization he founded after being voted out of office; the Committee's two vice-presidents are the Yemeni activist and 2011 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Tawakkol Karman, and the veteran Egyptian oppositionist Ayman Nur. The statement, issued on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the revolution in Egypt, addressed the state of affairs in the Arab world in general, and expressed solidarity with the "democratically elected president of Egypt, Muhammad Mursi," and it also singled out "the rulers of a small Arab country" - viz. the UAE - as representing the "worst form of meddling" through its "financing of conspiratorial plots against our peoples' dreams of liberation." The following are excerpts from the statement:

"... Five years have passed [since the Egyptian revolution], and the responses to this popular wave have still not calmed in many Arab capitals, despite all the attempts to extinguish it... The counterrevolutionary forces have set out in conspiracies, in which there is close cooperation between media that is bought and paid for, corrupt money, and fabricated terrorism, planned by regional and international forces in order to abort the achievements [of the revolutions] - the most important of which are an unprecedented level of liberty, the entry of the people into the public sphere, free elections, and democratic constitutions...

"The foreign and domestic support for the counterrevolutionary forces did not succeed in producing what the [counterrevolutionary forces] promised in order to justify their return. The economic and social situation has deteriorated, the level of liberty has retreated, organized repression has expanded, and the scene has unfolded onto civil war, bloody savagery, and destructive sectarian conflict. The Arab sphere has turned into a stage for a game of axes and interests, and for foreign meddling.

"From the depths of this bloody scene, the Arab Committee for Democratic Revolutions asks God's mercy for the souls of the innocent martyrs of the Arab revolutions; expresses full solidarity with the victims of oppression, injustice, killing, forced displacement, and siege in Syria, Yemen, and Palestine; and [expresses full solidarity] with the prisoners in Egypt - first and foremost among them the democratically-elected president of Egypt, Muhammad Mursi; and it calls on the Arab people in the various countries of the [Arab] Spring to hold fast to their legitimate right to liberation, independence, just [economic] development, sovereignty, and democracy, and to be certain of the inevitability of victory, despite all the obstacles and conspiracies...

"The Committee expresses its absolute rejection of foreign meddling in the affairs of our region, in all its various forms... It considers the worst form of meddling to be the actions of the rulers of a small Arab country in the financing of conspiratorial plots against our peoples' dreams of liberation and freedom, and it calls on them to desist from this destructive policy..."[5]        

UAE Foreign Minister Anwar Gargash: Marzouki Is A "Voice From The Past... Trying To Cover Up His Own Failure"

The Foreign Minister of the UAE, Anwar Gargash, was quick to fire off a Twitter response to Marzouki's January 22 statements on France 24: "Marzouki's attack on the Emirates is in keeping with his habitually trivial and unbalanced political conduct. [He is] a voice from the past [trying to] justify his own flop, a high-pitched tone trying to cover up his own failure. The position of the Emirates was and is for the wellbeing and stability of the region and its cohesion. Perhaps Marzouki should be more 'just'[6] in his appraisal of the disintegration, extremism, and terrorism that is sweeping the region. And perhaps most of the voices that take aim at the Emirates are ones that harbor extremist and sectarian designs for the region, and Marzouki has been a tool for some of them..."[7]

 

Condemnation of Marzouki's statements was likewise forthcoming from closer quarters. The Tunisian Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying that it was keen on strengthening relations with all the Arab countries, and that it sharply condemned Marzouki's "irresponsible" statements, which were liable to disturb and put a strain on the profound bonds of brotherhood between Tunisia and the UAE.[8] Ridha Belhaj, Director of the Presidential Cabinet, issued a similar condemnation.[9]

UAE Columnist Ahmad Muhammad Al-Shehi: Marzouki Is "An Enemy Of The Peace" And "The Greatest Danger To The Future Of The [Arab] Nation And Its Stability"

Marzouki's statements elicited sharp reactions from the UAE press as well. One example was a January 26, 2016 article in the Al-Bayan daily by Ahmad Muhammad Al-Shehi, Director-General of the Ras Al-Khaimah Holy Quran Establishment. Al-Shehi argued that the Arab Spring revolutions were a disaster for the region, characterized Moncef  Marzouki as "an enemy of peace" for calling for more of them, and defended the UAE's role in countering them:

"... This is not the first time that Marzouki has attacked the Emirates. He has done this repeatedly. These days he has taken to spitting out the venom of his black malice towards the Emirates on some of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood [satellite] stations, on which he has become an honored guest. He uses them to defame one government and to curse another, to foment revolution against one state, and to call to bring down the regime of another. He boasts of wretched revolutions..., defends them, and calls for them, as though his only care and his only occupation is to attempt to drown the Arab countries in revolutions and to bring down governments and regimes, without paying any heed at all to the disastrous consequences of the so-called [Arab] Spring revolutions... For this reason he is worthy of the title 'enemy of the peace'.

"He is the greatest danger to the future of the [Arab] nation and its stability. Marzouki launched and heads something called the Arab Committee for the Defense of the Revolutions [sic]. He incites against the regime in Egypt and in other countries, stands together with the Muslim Brotherhood and those like them, and raises the symbol of Rabia [Al-Adawiyya Square],[10] taking pride in the fact that he raises it everywhere... 

"Everyone has seen with their own eyes the bitter fruits of these revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, and Syria. The distressing - nay, catastrophic - consequences of these revolutions continue on to this day, but Marzouki does not learn the lesson from all this... Does Marzouki not see the rivers of blood that are being spilled?... It is amazing that he incites to more and more revolutions, as though he has entirely lost his mind. This extremism in favor of the revolutions emphasizes that this man is an enemy of the peace...

"And on the other side, the UAE is the dove of peace, and the best support for its sister countries in defending their stability and cohesion. It has stood with them in their tribulations, and has supported them as much as it could with expertise, funding, and humanitarian, political, and military support, so that they could emerge from the darkness of anarchy and its consequences to the light of security and stability..."[11]

 

Endnotes:   

 

[1] Al-Ahram (Egypt), January 24, 2016.

[2] facebook.com, January 24, 2016.

[3] almesryoon.com, January 23, 2016.

[4] Al-Hayat (London), May 8, 2014.

[5] Al-Quds Al-'Arabi (London), January 25, 2016.

[6] In Arabic munsif, which is Marzouki's given name.

[7] twitter.com/AnwarGargash, January 22, 2016.

[8] assabahnews.tn, January 22, 2016.

[9] aljarida.com.tn, January 25, 2016.

[10] Rabia Al-Adawiyya Square in Cairo was the site of a July 2013 sit-in by supporters of President Muhammad Mursi after he was deposed by then-Defense Minister 'Abd Al-Fattah Al-Sisi. In August the square was cleared by security forces in an operation that left several hundred dead, and the square has since become an important symbol in Muslim Brotherhood martyrology. The Rabia 'sign', a four-fingered hand gesture, signifies support for Mursi and opposition to the current Egyptian regime.

[11] Al-Bayan (UAE), January 26, 2016.

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